Food containers suitable for heating have been available for many years and is today a highly developed art. One type of food container has been the coffee carafe typically used with coffee brewers. The coffee brewer will generally have a compartment for heating of water to a brewing temperature. The water is then expelled into a portion of the device containing ground coffee. The hot water brews into highly palatable coffee. Such coffee brewers have generally included a coffee carafe with a glass bowl and a polymeric handle. The handle may be secured to the bowl by use of a retractible metal band. Alternatively, the polymeric handle may include a polymeric ring that is fused to the upper portion of the glass bowl. Coffee brewers and glass coffee carafes can today be found in most homes, offices and building facilities.
While the glass coffee carafe has been a useful item, it has possessed several disadvantages. The glass coffee carafe, of course, has been highly susceptible to breakage. For example, if a glass coffee carafe is dropped onto a counter or a floor surface, it shatters producing dangerous glass fragments, creating substantial liability for businesses as well as suppliers of the coffee carafe. Such glass coffee carafes have also been susceptible to absorption of coffee oils. The coffee oil over time discolors the glass leaving a substantial deposit. The deposit may adversely affect the flavor of the brewed coffee resulting in a stale coffee flavor.
Various attempts have been made to overcome these disadvantages of the glass coffee carafe. Such attempts in the past have been unsuccessful. One such attempt has involved a carafe having a bowl made of polysulfone. The polysulfone carafe was unsatisfactory and was changed to a composite structure which is now commerically marketed as a carafe including a lower portion constructed of metal and an upper portion constructed of polysulfone. This unit likewise includes a handle which may be secured in place by fusion of the polymers. While this construction overcomes, at least to a certain degree, the breakage problem encountered in glass carafes, it has its own inherent disadvantages. For example, a seam exists between the metal portion and the polysulfone portion. Such seam permits accumulation of matter and thus creates potential for accumulation of bacteria and other unhealthful material. The seam also is a weakened area and may result in separation. Further, the polysulfone tends to degrade with repeated heating becoming discolored and unappetizing.
While a variety of food containers have been provided in the past made of polymeric materials, for example, polyethylene, such containers have not been suitable for heating, particularly on a hot plate, since prior polymeric materials have tended to become fused when heating to temperatures, for example, an excess of 300.degree. F. Illustrative is the polysulfone material.
Applicant has discovered that the disadvantages of the glass coffee carafe, the composite metal and polysulfone coffee carafes and the existing polymeric food containers can be overcome. The present invention provides a container, e.g. polymeric coffee carafe which is transparent, which may be heated to temperatures well in excess of 300.degree. F., e.g. 375.degree. F. and higher, and is not fragile. Moreover, the present carafe is not susceptible to absorption of coffee oils. In fact, if coffee is boiled dry in the present carafe, a mere swishing of water will remove the coffee residue.